Peanut Butter Butterscotch Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Butterscotch Chip Cookies
So after making my trio of Haystacks last week, my chocolate chips were severely depleted. The only sweet things I had left in my pantry were some peanut butter flavoured chips, butterscotch chips and a few Skor™ bits. I rarely make any “chip” cookies other than chocolate but what’s a Mom to do when her 3 year old wants to make cookies?? I threw it all together and hoped for the best. The results are quite good though the butterscotch chips are very sweet so if you prefer your cookies less so then cut down on the amount or throw in another flavour of chips.

I have also included a “recipe card” that you should be able to print off on paper or as a 4x6 photo. Let me know if it works!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup melted butter
• 2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup peanut butter chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• ½ cup Skor™ bits

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F .

2. In large bowl, beat melted butter, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth about 3-4 minutes.

3. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir into butter mixture until combined.

4. Stir in all chips and bits.

5. Drop from teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.

6. Bake 10 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes; remove to wire rack.


Makes about 5 dozen small cookies. Store in airtight container. Should last about a week…if you can keep your hand out of the cookies jar!

No Bake Haystacks - A Trio of Goodness

No Bake Haystacks - A Trio of Goodness
I hadn’t heard of haystacks until I moved to the West coast. I first had them at a potluck and after trying them I immediately asked for the recipe. They are delicious and fantastic especially on the days that when you want a treat but don’t want to turn on the oven. Really, all you have to do is melt some chocolate and stir! Super easy and kid friendly!

From Haystacks

The kids and I spent the afternoon inventing (well, new to us) versions based on our original chocolate recipe.

The first version is the original recipe of peanut butter goodness but with added marshmallows. The 2nd is my son’s Chocolate “Chip” Haystack – hickory sticks (match stick potato chips), milk chocolate and butterscotch chips. The 3rd is my daughter’s “Snow” Stacks of pretzels, white chocolate and cranberries. The kids have many, many other ideas that we will save another day in the kitchen.

I highly recommend trying these or creating your own – in fact, I would love to know what you come up with! All recipes below make about 20 haystacks per recipe. These can be easily doubled if desired.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Haystacks

From Haystacks

1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips
2 cups chow mein noodles
1 cup mini-marshmallows

Melt chocolate chips in large sauce pan over low heat. Remove from heat. Stir in chow mein noodles. Add and stir in marshmallows. Drop by large spoonfuls onto cookie sheet lined with parchment or silpat.

Refrigerate until set. Once set, you can place them in a large Ziploc and freeze (yes, they do taste great right out of freezer!). Makes 20 stacks.

Chocolate “Chip” Haystacks

From Haystacks

Ok, there is no way I can even attempt to say these are in any way healthy or diet friendly but dang they are good! The sweetness of the chocolate and the saltiness of the chips make for a march made in heaven! My 3 year old also threw in some butterscotch flavoured chips for added flavour!

1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch flavoured chips
3 cups hickory sticks or other match stick potato chip

Melt chips in large sauce pan over low heat. Remove from heat. Stir in sticks. Drop by large spoonfuls onto cookie sheet lined with parchment or silpat.

Refrigerate until set. Once set, you can place them in a large Ziploc and freeze… if they last that long. Makes 20 stacks.

Snow Stacks

From Haystacks

My daughter does not like chow mein noodles and will not eat a potato of any kind (including the chip variety) so she chose pretzels as the base for her version. So really, between the low fat pretzels and cranberries she’s created a rather guilt free treat (yes the chocolate remains but I’m willing to forget those fat calories if you are!)

2 cups white chocolate chips
¾ cup craisins
2 cups thin pretzel sticks

I find white chocolate burns more easily than regular chocolate chips so I recommend using the microwave or double boiler method.

Using a microwave-safe container, place white chocolate chips in microwave at medium power (50 percent) for 1 minutes. Remove and stir. If chocolate is not melted, return to microwave and repeat heating step, stirring every 10 seconds to avoid burning When small lumps remain, remove and continue to stir to complete melting. If needed, transfer melted chocolate to bigger bowl to accommodate pretzels.

Stir in pretzels. If pretzels seem too long break them up as you stir. Drop by large spoonfuls onto cookie sheet lined with parchment or silpat.

Refrigerate until set. Freeze if desired. Makes 20 stacks.

From Haystacks

The BEST Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER

From chocolate chip cookies

From chocolate chip cookies

The BEST Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER
Adapted from In the Sweet Kitchen, by Regan Daley

From chocolate chip cookies

I am not lying to you when I say these are the best chocolate chip cookies you will ever have the pleasure of tasting. EVER. The addition of coffee intensifies the chocolate. The other secret to this recipe is to use a small ice cream or dough scoop - I think the one I use is about an inch to an inch and half wide. This smaller sized cookie is enough to meet any chocolate lovers craving but if you do have to reach for another (and you will) you will not feel too guilty about it.

Ingredients:

1 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c. tightly-packed light brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 t. pure vanilla extract
3 c. plus 2 T. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 t. instant coffee
16 oz. good quality milk chocolate chips (I use two full bags of chips)

From chocolate chip cookies

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats.
2. In large bowl, cream sugars and butter until light and fluffy - about 3-4 minutes if using stand mixer.
3. Add eggs, one at a time.
4. In small bowl, dissolve coffee into vanilla.
5. Add vanilla into egg and butter mix and beat. Scrape down sides.
6. In another bowl whisk the flour, salt, baking soda until combined.
7. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Mix until just combined.
8. Add the chips.
9. Using hands (make size of walnut) or preferably small ice cream scoop place cookies on sheets.
10. Bake approximately 12 minutes. They should be golden and not too firm.
11. Cool 5 minuts and remove to racks to continue cooling.
12. Enjoy!

From chocolate chip cookies

From chocolate chip cookies

Lemon Basil Pesto with Dungeness Crab

From pesto

Dinner on Saturday was going to be lemon pesto pasta and crab cakes... but who knew canned crab could go bad? Apparently about 4-5 years in my pantry was too much! Luckily we had bought a tiny bit of fresh crab as well. The small (but expensive - $9 for 100 grams!)amount was just enough to add to give a great deal of flavour and added colour to our pasta dish! If you don't have pine nuts, walnuts will also work well!
Ingredients

Pesto Sauce
4 cups fresh basil
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
zest of one lemon
juice of four large lemons
1 cup toasted pine nuts
1 cup or more grated parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, crushed (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Pasta for four

Crab Mixture
12 oz fresh or canned crab
1 small onion
1/2 red pepper

What to do

Pesto
Wash and lightly dry basil (salad spinner works well).
Place basil in food processor.
Add zest and lemon juice.
Add garlic if using.
Pulse or mix or med low.
Slowly add oil.
Add cheese and pine nuts.
Pulse or mix until desired consistency is reached.
Salt and pepper to taste.
The pesto can be made in advanced if desired. When ready to use, heat sauce in medium sauce pan.

Pasta
Cook pasta as directed.

Crab Mixture
Heat saute pan on medium heat.
Add 1 - 2 tbsp oil.
Saute onion and pepper until translucent - about 4 minutes.
Add crab and heat about a minute or two until heated through.

To plate
Place serving of pasta on plate, top with pesto, and crab mixture. Add additonal cheese and pine nuts if desired.

From pesto

Please note:
Using a food processor produces a very fresh tasting and course pesto. It definitely brings the basil to the forefront of the flavours.

If you prefer a smoother, more mellow pesto use a blender instead.

Also, if you want to cut the oil replace some it with water, more lemon juice or even vegetable or chicken stock!

Homemade Graham Crackers!

Have you ever thought about making graham crackers from scratch? Me neither, I assumed they grew in a box. With this recipe you will get amazing tasting graham crackers as long as you make them thin, if you make them thicker they are more like graham cookies - which is also a good thing (they are softer and great in milk!) This recipe is the base for the nanaimo recipe found here.

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

I recommend trying this treat - it's fun to say you've made graham crackers from scratch because I can guarantee not many others have!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons frozen unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/3 cup mild-flavored honey
5 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

For the topping:

3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

What to do:
Adjust the oven rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in a food processor with steel blade . Pulse or mix on low to mix. Add the butter and pulse on and off until the butter mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal.
In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture in the processor and pulse until the dough barely comes together into a sticky ball. It will be very soft and sticky.

Take half of dough and turn the dough out onto a plastic wrap. Gently fold over wrap and shape into rectangle. Repeat with other half of dough. Chill until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.
To prepare the topping: In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon, and set aside.

Take one wrapped portion of dough. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle about 1/8 inch thick (approx 16 inches long). Trim the edges of the rectangle to 4 inches wide. Working with the shorter side of the rectangle parallel to the work surface, cut the strip every 4 inches to make 4 crackers.

Mark a vertical line down the middle of each cracker, being careful not to cut through the dough. Using a fork, prick the dough to form two dotted rows on each side of the dividing line. Place the crackers on parchment-lined baking sheets and sprinkle with the topping.

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

Within the kitchen BIG Tip: This is much easier if you use a silpat. You can flour and roll the dough on the silpat. Carefully divide the dough into squares as described – be careful with knife – do not cut through the silpat! Using silpat method you can then just move entire silpat onto baking sheet and move to fridge.

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the tough, rotating the sheets halfway through to ensure even baking.

Yield: 8 large crackers (original recipe says 10 – I didn’t bother keeping scraps as dough is not easy to work with).

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

Based on http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000126.html and Nancy Silverton's Pastries from the La Brea Bakery (Villard, 2000)

Nanaimo Bars - A Canadian Tradition

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and http://www.nanaimo.ca/.

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

This challenge is a great way to celebrate Canada and the upcoming Vancouver Olympics! And being a West Coast Canadian I had to take up this challenge (I chose to make regular flour crackers).

Nanaimo Bars are a part of Canadiana - every child knows what it is and most have had the sweet three layer bar many times. Chocolate, coconut, nuts, butter cream and chocolate have caused sugar highs in many Canadian kids and adults alike. I don't remember eating my first nanaimo bar but they were always on the table at any special occasion. I've never made nanaimo bars from scratch (including making my own graham crackers) so this was a baking first in my tiny kitchen.

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

The results were fantastic and soooo much better than store bought which are often too sweet. This recipe produces a nutty and chocolatey base, with a not-too-sweet filling and a dark chocolate finish. I made them yesterday and there is one left....as soon as I finish typing there will be none :)

They are named after the City of Nanaimo located on Vancouver Island. In 1986, Nanaimo Mayor Graeme Roberts, in conjunction with Harbour Park Mall, initiated a contest to find the ultimate Nanaimo Bar Recipe. During the four-week long contest, almost 100 different variations of the famous confection were submitted. The winner: Joyce Hardcastle. This is the recipe:
Nanaimo Bar Recipe

Bottom Layer

½ cup unsalted butter (European style cultured)
¼ cup sugar
5 tbsp. cocoa
1 egg beaten
1 ¼ cups graham wafer crumbs (see here for homemade recipe crackers!)
½ c. finely chopped almonds (I used raw skin on almonds)
1 cup coconut (I used unsweetened desiccated coconut)

What to do:
Melt first 3 ingredients in top of double boiler. Add egg and whisk to cook and thicken.You know it is done when it resembles pudding. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, coconut, and nuts. Press firmly into an ungreased 8" x 8" pan. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or more minutes.

Second Layer

½ cup unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. and 2 Tsp. cream (I used whipping cream but I have recipes that call for milk)
2 Tbsp. vanilla custard powder (if you live in Canada or have access to it, you must use Bird's brand for authentic taste!)
2 cups icing sugar
Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light. Spread over bottom layer.

Note: See the little offset spatula in the picture??  I got tonnes of grief from hubby about buying yet another kitchen utensil... "when will you ever use that thing??" The answer: Yesterday! My other spatulas were too big for the pan. Love it when I am right!

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

Third Layer

4 squares semi-sweet chocolate (1 oz. each) - I used dark Nestle chocolate - great when you don't want something too sweet but you want deep chocolate flavour!
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Note: If you want a slightly thicker layer 2 more ounces of chocolate can be added along with 1 additional tbsp of butter.

Melt chocolate and butter overlow heat. Cool. Once cool (luke warm is ok - especially if you refrigerate the other two layers first) , but still liquid, pour over second layer and chill in refrigerator.

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

From graham crackers nanaimo bars

Within the Kitchen Tip:
To make the white chocolate design melt 2 ounces of white chocolate. Place in ziploc bag and cut off small part of bottom tip of bag. Make diagonal lines across pan as shown. Using a toothpick drag one end of it through chocolate and then alternate direction and pull through again, wiping the toothpick in between each.

Extra info:
Information on Vancouver 2010 click here.
This video of Vancouver is amazing and a taste of what you will experience is you are coming for the Olympics!

Seared Soy-Maple Ahi Tuna with Savory Polenta

From seared tuna

From seared tuna

Growing up on the east coast of Canada meant an abundance of seafood – salmon, cod, halibut, and lobster. But I have a secret to share… I hated all of them! Unless, my mother made me, I would not eat any kind of fresh seafood (for some reason canned tuna was palatable).

 

It wouldn’t be until I became an adult and moved to the west coast that I became a more adventurous eater. Sometime during my university years, I started eating, and liking, seafood. My favorites are salmon, prawns, and ahi tuna.

 

From seared tuna

 

And even more recently I have dared to cook ahi tuna (sushi grade). I thought it would be a big challenge as I have heard horror stories of friends overcooking it. And since it costs $25/lb and up here, I did not want to improperly cook it and waste that much money! But, honestly readers, it is not that hard to produce a beautifully seared piece of fish. The key is to use medium high heat and cook it on the first side until the flesh changes colour 1/3 of the way up the side of the fish. Flip it and sear it a few minutes more. Voila! flawlessly cooked tuna. Seared on the outside and perfectly pink on the inside.

From seared tuna

From seared tuna

Tonight, I had a craving for seared ahi tuna and instead of the mashed potatoes I would normally serve with it, I tried polenta. I have NEVER cooked polenta before but have eaten it in restaurants (have you tried polenta fries? Yum! That will be a different post someday soon.) Anyways, I looked around the net and chose a recipe from Alton Brown. I used a spicy homemade chicken stock and way more garlic than called for. I also found it called for too much salt so I cut it by half.

From seared tuna

 

I marinated the tuna for 30 minutes in a marvelous kicked-up maple soy glaze recipe shared by my boss JW (she’s vegetarian but I try not to hold that against her – just kidding!)

 

Tuna is definitely too expensive to have often but every once in awhile it makes for a special and delectable treat. Enjoy.

 

Seared Soy-Maple Glazed Tuna

 

Marinade (enough for up to 1 lb of tuna or 4 servings)

From seared tuna

 

• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Dijon or grainy mustard (I prefer grainy)
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp wasabi powder (optional)

 Method:

1. Mix together. Set aside.

 

Tuna

• 1/4 lb per person ahi tuna (sushi grade) – about ¾ inch thick

1. Place tuna in a bowl or a ziploc. Pour marinade over tuna and marinade for 30-60 minutes.
2. Heat pan on medium high heat and add 2 or tbsp of vegetable oil.
3. Add tuna. Do not flip until the tuna has changed color 1/3 of the way up the steak. Once flipped, cook  tuna for another 2 minutes or so depending on how rare you like your tuna.
4. Remove from pan.
5. Cut into ¼ inch thick slices.

From seared tuna

 

Polenta

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 cup minced onions
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup polenta
• ½ cup or more grated parmesan
• freshly ground pepper to taste

Method:
Preheat oven: 350 degrees
Special Equipment: Heat proof sauce pan or dutch oven with lid.

 

1. Place oil in pan and heat on medium to medium high heat. Add onions and salt. Cook until translucent about 5 minutes.
2. Reduce heat and add garlic – do not burn garlic! Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add chicken stock. Bring to boil.
4. While whisking, add polenta.
5. Cover pan and place in oven.
6. Bake for 35 minutes. Stir 2 or 3 times to ensure creaminess and prevent clumping.
7. Remove from oven and stir in parmesan. Add pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

 

 

Plating suggestion: Place a large scoop of polenta on plate. Gentle top with 4 or 5 slices of seared tuna. Simple yet delicious.

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